Bible Discussion: Luke 24

June 4, 2008, 2:00 pm; posted by
Filed under Bible, Chloe, Connie, David, Josh J, Steve  | No Comments

This week, Bweinh.com looks at the next chapter of Luke, Luke 24.

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Luke: 1:1-38 | 1:39-2:40 | 2:41-3:38 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14-15 | 16-17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23

 
INTRODUCTION:
Connie:
The night is over — the Promise has dawned. It is merely waiting to be experienced, saints.

David:
This chapter is the only explanation the priests and Pharisees got concerning the bold change in Peter and the other apostles, seen in Luke\’s next treatise (Acts). Seeing Jesus risen from the dead, and having the Scriptures opened to them, changed everything — including the world. Soon they would be known as the men “who have turned the world upside down.”

 
SOMETHING YOU’D NEVER NOTICED BEFORE:
Connie:
It took the entire day for the disciples to believe/understand/experience the Resurrection. It was dinner time for most of them. We emphasize Easter as the dawn, which it was for the women, maybe — but not for the majority of His followers.

Chloe:
The disciples were more inclined to believe they saw a ghost than to believe Jesus had told the truth about rising on the third day.

Steve:
Jesus urged the disciples to “handle Him” to assuage their doubts!

 
BEST BAND NAME FROM THE PASSAGE:
Josh: Flesh and Bones
Connie: What Things?
Steve: Suffer and Rise
David: Threescore Furlongs

 
STORY IT REMINDS YOU OF:
David:
I preached on “What Things” from v.19, when I first moved down here in 1993. I talked about how God\’s perspective is so far above our own sorrow that He can make light of those things that overwhelm us.

Ten years later I went to a funeral for a friend\’s 18-year-old daughter who had died in a car wreck. Afterward, standing around with the family at their home, the father looked at me with tears in his eyes, but smiling. He said, “What things, Brother Sweet? Do you remember that message? What things?”

I hadn\’t till he mentioned it. But for all those blathering, self-serving sermons I delivered when I was young, there was one that meant something to someone 10 years later.

Connie:
The women seeing the angel reminds me of the donkey in Numbers 22, who sees an angel and crushes Balaam\’s foot to get out of his way. The difference is that the donkey was vindicated far quicker and got to talk.

And by the way, I normally wouldn\’t like being compared to a donkey.

Josh:
Getting into a conversation with someone I don\’t recognize and saying, “Nice to meet you,” only to be reminded that I already have.

 
DEEP THEOLOGICAL MEANING:
Josh:
He has risen.

Connie:
What else is awaiting our simple acknowledgement to experience it firsthand? Healing or resurrection of a friend or loved one? It\’s been said we\’d do greater things than He did, so these are a given, right?

David:
Aside from the Resurrection, it is noteworthy that twice Jesus is portrayed as “opening the Scriptures” for the disciples in this chapter. It is an open Book now — and worthy is the Lamb who was slain to open it.

Chloe:
He\’s alive!! Praise the Lord, He\’s alive!

 
RANDOM THOUGHT:
Chloe:
So what did Cleopas and his companion see in the place of Jesus?

David:
In v.15, the phrase “and Jesus Himself drew near” contains the same word Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit as “the Comforter.” It is the very picture of what is meant by intercession — to draw alongside someone in distress, to comfort them.

Steve:
Peter, desperately seeking forgiveness and redemption for his failure and denial, was eager to believe what the other disciples saw as “idle tales,” and ran to the tomb to see if the women were telling the truth. The one who knew his sin was great, running to meet a Savior even greater.

Josh:
We recently had a clash on women in ministry. I find it noteworthy that the first ones to spread the news of a resurrected Christ were women.

 
VERSE TO REMEMBER:
Josh:
24:5-6 — “Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee…”

Chloe; Steve:
24:47 — “…and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

David:
24:48 — “And you are witnesses of these things.”

 
PORTION YOU WOULD MOST LIKE EXPLAINED IN HEAVEN:
Chloe:
Why is it only Jesus and Philip (in Acts) who can transport themselves? And how did they do that?

Connie:
Why did their eyes get opened over dinner?

 
GENERAL RESPONSE TO THE PASSAGE:
Josh:
I\’ve grown up taking the Resurrection as a given. To think that Jesus didn\’t rise, or that His body was missing, or that He was a ghost, seems ridiculous. But I realize it would have seemed a lot more reasonable at the time.

Jesus knew this as well and went to great lengths — pronouncements by angels, incognito Bible lessons, personal appearances complete with hands, feet and esophagus show and tell — to show His disciples exactly what they needed to see to have faith and believe. Now, thanks to that, I can have the kind of faith that believes the thought that Jesus didn\’t rise from the dead is more preposterous than the thought that He did.

 
LESSON TO TAKE AWAY:
Chloe:
If a woman tells you something you think sounds like nonsense, you\’d best believe her.

Steve:
Sometimes, when something seems too good to be true…it’s still True.

 
CONCLUSION:
David:
Jesus ascended into Heaven and the disciples were told to tarry at Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I\’m glad they tarried, and I\’m glad that Charles Parham Fox, and his small band of Bible students, tarried at Bethel College at the beginning of the last century, ushering in the Latter Rain.


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